Missouri Attorney General Issues Alert to Missouri CU Members

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster on Friday warned consumers to be alert following a recent notice from the $262 million Missouri Credit Union in Columbia, Mo., that member information was accessible for a short time this summer on its website.

Koster said in a press release that his office became aware of the unintended glitch by a MCU member and contacted MCU officials, who assured his office that the information was available only for a brief time and that the problem was fixed as soon as it was identified.

As required by law, MCU notified its approximately 39,000 members, as well as the former members whose personal information was available online, the attorney general’s office said.

Koster’s office advised that members of MCU should closely monitor accounts, and may wish to consider closing existing accounts and reopening with a new account number.

In response to the incident, MCU issued this Aug. 16 statement:

“MCU is committed to ensuring the confidentiality and security of our members’ personal information. Unfortunately, we discovered on August 5, 2013 that a file containing member information had inadvertently been made accessible through the MCU website.

“The file contained a list of our members’ names, addresses, Social Security numbers, account numbers, and MCU teller/call-in passwords. MCU immediately removed the file and began a review of what occurred. We determined that there were only 10 visits to the location of this file during the short time it was accessible.

“Even though we do not know if anyone actually viewed the information in the file, we began notifying all of our members on Aug. 16, 2013. Out of an abundance of caution, we have arranged to have AllClear ID protect the identity of the members whose information was in the file for one year. Information about AllClear ID’s services and how to enroll is included in the letter we sent to our members.”

The credit union’s president, Hal James, said, “On behalf of myself and everyone at MCU, I apologize to all members affected by this incident. Please be assured that we are working to enhance our security measures to prevent something like this from happening in the future.”

MCU set up a dedicated call center for members to call if they have questions about what occurred and steps they can take to protect themselves.